“ OUR  POLITICS: 


AN  ADDRESS 

DELIVERED  BEFORE 


The  H ouse  of  Convocation 


OF 

TRINITY  COLLEGE, 


IN  CHRIST  CHURCH,  HARTFORD,  CONN.,  JULY  io,  1872, 


STEWART  L.  WOODFORD,  LL.D., 

of  Brooklyn,  N,  Y. 


i 


HARTFORD : 

PRINTED  FOR  THE  HOUSE  OF  CONVOCATION, 

1872. 


M.  H.  MALLORY  A CO., 
PRINTERS  AND  ELECTROTYPKRS, 
HARTFORD  CONIft 


'0  , t/3 


ADDRESS. 


Mr.  Dean  and  Gentlemen 

of  the  House  of  Convocation  : 

Being  of  your  number  by  the  favor  of  adoption, 
and  not  by  the  right  of  graduation,  I would  heartily 
thank  yourselves  and  your  college  for  the  degree, 
which,  by  your  kindness,  has  made  me  your  fellow- 
member. 

Although  no  local  attachments  of  student  days 
bind  my  heart  to  Trinity,  still  I well  recall  how,  when 
a boy,  and  resident  in  an  adjacent  town  of  this  county, 
I used  to  come  into  Hartford  on  market  days,  and 
with  what  awe  I passed  the  college  grounds,  and  peer- 
ing through  the  hedge  into  the  campus , looked  at 
the  old  buildings  and  great  trees,  and  fancied  that 
the  gay-hearted  students  were  the  happiest,  and  the 
gowned  professors  the  wisest,  among  living  men. 

To  another  seat  your  college  will  soon  remove. 
May  the  love  of  her  sons  be  heartily  with  her  in  the 
new  home ; may  her  usefulness  be  even  more  en- 
larged, and.  her  honors  be  still  more  abundant. 

It  has  become  quite  the  fashion  among  educated 
men,  and  even  more  among  successful  business  men, 
to  take  little  personal  interest  in  public  affairs.  Very 


4 


many  of  our  college  graduates,  and  of  our  leading 
traders,  merchants,  manufacturers,  and  bankers,  affect 
a sort  of  Dundrearyish  indifference  to  our  politics. 
When  one  of  their  number  gives  any  personal,  prac- 
tical heed  to  the  duties  of  our  citizenship,  they  may 
not  always  openly  condemn  his  waste  of  time  or  sneer 
at  his  enthusiasm,  but  they  take  little  pains  to  conceal 
their  surprise  at  his  want  of  taste,  or,  still  worse,  want 
of  wit  in  giving  to  the  State  an  hour  that  might  have 
been  given  more  pleasantly  to  society,  or  more  pro- 
fitably to  trade.  In  manydnstances,  this  indifference 
must  be  affected  rather  than  hearty  and  thorough ; 
because  the  careful  student  of  the  past  cannot  be 
'entirely  careless  of  the  present,  and  the  intelligent 
financier  must  at  least  estimate  the  political  forces 
within  which  his  private  enterprises  are  being  urged. 

This  fashion  of  indifference,  whether  sincere  or 
affected,  has  some  natural  causes,  and  has,  within  a 
few  years,  been  artificially  forced  into  hot-house 
growth.  The  excitements  of  a great  popular  struggle 
over  the  question  of  African  slavery  quickened  every 
interest  and  affected  every  person  in  our  land  during 
the  few  years  preceding  1861.  Almost  every  one  was 
forced  into  decision,  expression,  and  action  upon  that 
question  in  some  of  the  many  forms  in  which  it  ap- 
peared in  the  social  and  political  life  of  the  nation. 
Between  1848  and  1861,  nearly  every  intelligent  man 
and  woman  became  in  some  degree  a partisan  upon 
that  question,  and  in  some  measure  shared  in  the 
intense  interest  which  its  discussion  compelled.  Then 
followed  the  war,  with  its  volcanic  outbursts  of  enthu- 
siasm, its  patience  of  long-suffering,  its  heroism  of 
high-hearted  achievement,  and  its  sublimity  of  sacrifice. 


5 


Between  1861  and  1865,  nearly  every  one  was,  in 
some  shape,  a participant  in  that  struggle,  on  the  one 
side  or  the  other,  either  as  actor,  sympathizer,  or  suf- 
ferer. Then  followed  the  natural  discussion  over  the 
settlement  of  the  terms  of  peace.  This  discussion 
would,  under  any  circumstances,  have  been  interesting 
to  all — vital  to  many.  It  would  not  of  necessity  have 
been  so  absorbing  and  wide-spread,  but  for  the  action 
of  the  then  President  in  regard  to  reconstruction. 
Without  any  criticism  of  that  action,  and  referring  to 
it  simply  as  matter  of  history,  this  much  may  be  sug- 
gested : It  was  certainly  unexpected.  It  quickened 
new  hopes  among  those  who  had  been  unfortunate  in 
the  field,  and  compelled  those  who  had  been  successful 
in  arms  to  complete  by  the  ballot  that  which  had  been 
won  by  the  sword.  Hence  the  period  of  reconstruc- 
tion was  also  one  of  great  general  discussion  and 
excitement. 

Thus,  for  nearly  twenty  years,  our  politics,  in  one 
form  or  another,  appealed  to  the  interest,  quickened 
the  conscience,  and  occupied  the  best  thought  of  al- 
most our  entire  people.  First,  there  was  the  long, 
exhaustive,  able,  and  bitter  argument  over  principles 
and  ideas,  which  went  to  the  very  root  of  all  govern- 
ment, human  and  Divine.  Then,  when  other  courts 
had  failed,  came  the  appeal  to  that  last  high  court, 
from  which,  among  men,  there  can  be  no  further  ap- 
peal— the  tribunal  of  war.  Then  followed  the  settle- 
ment, when  that  which  the  sword  upon  many  fields 
had  written  into  the  history  of  the  nation,  was  placed, 
with  careful  words  and  after  full  debate,  into  the 
formal  compact  of  our  Federal  Union. 

Such  long  excitement  naturally  caused  weariness. 


6 


Men  turned  from  politics  and  arms,  asking  for  rest 
and  peace. 

During  this  long  struggle  very  many  bad  and 
designing  men  had,  by  shrewd  appeals  to  the  prevail- 
ing sentiment  of  their  localities  and  by  various  adroit 
methods,  so  possessed  themselves  of  the  mechanism  of 
their  respective  political  parties,  as  in  many  instances 
to  wield  large  local  influence  and  exercise  large  local 
control.  That  corruption,  which  seems  as  incident  to 
all  national  life  as  disease  is  to  all  individual  life,  had 
fastened  itself  upon  both  the  great  political  parties. 
This  tendency  to  evil,  by  the  way,  is  in  no  measure 
confined  to  politics.  There  are  defaulters  in  banks 
and  trust-companies  as  well  as  in  the  public  treasury. 
Lies  are  told  over  the  counter  and  in  the  drawing- 
room as  frequently  as  at  the  caucus  and  in  the  con- 
vention. Human  nature,  when  opportunity  is  afforded, 
has  an  old-fashioned  way  of  showing  its  bad  side  as 
well  as  its  best.  There  were  probably  canker-spots 
on  the  apples  in  Eden.  There  was  surely  a fib  on  the 
sweet  lips  of  Eve,  and  cowardly  tale-bearing  in  the 
manly  heart  of  Adam.  Even  where  John  loved  so 
devotedly,  and  Peter  spake  so  resolutely,  there  was  Ju- 
das with  his  hungry  bag  and  his  ready  kiss.  But  the 
existence  of  evil  is  neither  justification  nor  excuse  for 
evil  doing.  Corruption  is  in  our  politics,  and  the  slime 
of  the  serpent  is  in  the  primary  caucus  and  in  legisla- 
tive halls.  This  corruption  has  disheartened  a few 
good  citizens.  It  has  disgusted  more  aesthetic  and 
refined  ones.  It  has  been  availed  of  as  an  excuse  by 
very  many  more  busy  or  careless  men  for  their  taking 
little  personal  interest  in  public  affairs,  and  affecting 
indifference  to  our  politics. 


7 


There  is  still  another  cause  which  to-day  largely 
produces  and  stimulates  this  indifference. 

The  pecuniary  rewards  of  public  life  are  very 
meagre.  If  you  except  the  chief  customs-officers  at 
some  five  or  six  of  our  principal  ports  of  entry,  and  a 
few  local  officials  in  our  largest  cities,  there  are  none 
of  our  higher  place-holders  who  are  paid  salaries  in 
any  degree  approaching  what  the  ability  required  for 
a just  discharge  of  such  duties  can  readily  earn  in 
private  life.  Take,  for  example,  the  judges  through- 
out the  country,  excepting  in  New  York,  and  possibly 
in  one  or  two  other  States.  Almost  every  lawyer  fit 
to  be  a judge  can  earn  so  much  more  money  in  the 
ordinary  practice  of  his  profession  than  either  Nation 
or  State  will  pay  for  his  services  on  the  bench,  that  it 
is  difficult  to  get  a first-class  lawyer  to  be  a judge. 
Indeed,  you  cannot,  unless  you  find  one  so  well  off  that 
he  can  afford  to  give  up  private  business,  or  so  fired 
with  the  noble  ambition  of  his  profession  that  he  is 
willing  to  forego  wealth  for  the  great  honor  of  the 
ermine.  There  is  not  a successful  business  man  in 
Hartford  to-day  who,  in  a pecuniary  point  of  view,  can 
afford  to  take  any  public  office  and  faithfully  give  to  it 
the  time  necessary  for  a conscientious  discharge  of  its 
duties.  Our  office-holders  must  therefore  come,  as  a 
rule,  from  one  or  other  of  three  classes  of  our  citizens  : 
either  from  such  of  the  wealthy  as,  having  decided 
taste  for  public  affairs  or  recognizing  the  duty  of  the 
citizen  to  serve  the  State  when  the  State  needs  his 
service,  can  afford  to  give  their  time  and  service  ; or 
from  among  those  of  moderate  means,  who  have  such 
natural  fitness  and  inclination  for  official  place  and 
public  duty  that  they  are  willing  to  forego  oppor- 


8 


tunities  of  private  gain  and  the  accumulation  of  wealth, 
in  order  to  gratify  their  ambition  and  fulfil  their  inner 
sense  of  personal  responsibility  to  the  State ; or  else 
— and  here  lies  the  greatest  danger — our  office-holders 
will  be  men  who,  having  the  ambition  to  rule  among 
their  fellows,  and  being  burdened  by  no  scruples,  will 
take  public  place,  and  either  use  its  opportunities 
for  the  • advancement  of  purely  private  and  selfish 
schemes,  or  else  boldly  steal  what  they  may  desire. 
But  the  fact  remains  that  here,  where  there  are  no 
hereditary  riches,  no  entailed  estates,  no  reasonable 
certainty  that  the  grandson  will  possess  what  the 
grandfather  earns,  all  the  avenues  of  material  success 
lead  away  from  public  station. 

A young  man  may  go  into  trade,  and  if  he  be 
frugal  and  energetic,  he  shall  be  reasonably  sure  of  an 
ultimate  competence.  He  may  remain  on  the  pater- 
nal farm,  and  if  he  be  industrious,  discreet,  and  frugal, 
old  age  will  find  him  with  fruitful  fields,  well-filled 
barns,  well-educated  children,  and  with  money  in  bank, 
and  mortgages  on  the  farms  of  his  less  provident 
neighbors.  He  may  start  as  brakeman  on  the  rail- 
way, and  faithfulness  and  brain  shall  place  him  in  the 
directors’  board-room.  He  may  start  at  the  loom  or 
the  shoemaker’s  bench,  and  if  he  thinks  as  he  toils, 
and  saves  as  he  earns,  he  shall  at  last  control  factories, 
and  help  many  in  their  work  of  life.  But  if,  conscious 
of  his  power  to  guide  the  thoughts  of  men  and  shape 
their  actions  on  great  public  questions,  conscious  of 
his  power  so  to  rule  among  his  fellows  as  to  truly 
serve  them  and  the  State,  he  shall  in  early  life  accept 
public  station,  and  give  constant  and  sincere  heed  and 
labor  to  public  affairs,  he  may  indeed  grow  to  large 


9 


honor  among  his  people,  and  leave  a name  as  one  who 
deserved  well  of  the  state  ; but  his  life  will  be  one  of 
care  and  frugality,  and  his  age  will  be  shadowed  with 
poverty.  Each  year  this  disparity  between  the  re- 
wards of  public  life  and  of  private  endeavor  becomes 
more  and  more  marked.  The  present  scale  of  official 
pay  was,  for  the  most  part,  determined  before  the 
inflations  in  values  of  the  past  twelve  years  had  so 
greatly  increased  the  cost  of  living.  The  wages  of 
public  official  service  have  not  been  largely  raised  nor 
the  hours  of  such,  service  shortened.  They  will  not 
be  to  any  great  degree.  It  is  not  clear  that  it  would 
be  well  if  they  should  be. 

Besides,  the  tenure  of  all  civil  office  of  the  clerical 
kind,  is  such  as  to  offer  no  inducement  to  faithful,  con- 
scientious, and  capable  clerks,  either  to  seek  or  accept 
such  service.  A man  is  put  in,  not  primarily  because 
he  is  fit,  but  because  he  can  politically  serve  his  party 
or  has  been  or  may  be  useful  to  sonje  candidate  for  a 
higher  place.  He  is  turned  out,  not  because  he  is 
clerically  unfit,  but  either  because  his  party  is  out  of 
power  or  because  his  especial  faction  within  his  party 
is  for  the  time  in  the  minority.  The  whole  theory  is, 
and  must  be,  wrong.  That  its  practical  employment 
has  not  given  us  worse  officials  is  rare  tribute  to  the 
versatile  ability  of  our  people  and  to  the  average  dis- 
cretion of  the  appointing  power.  Still,  the  fact  re- 
mains that  poor  men,  whQ  would  be  strictly  honest, 
can  seldom  afford,  without  direct  injustice  to  their 
wives,  their  children,  .and  even  to  themselves,  to 
accept  public  office  in  our  country.  This  deters 
some  from  an  active  participation  in  our  politics.  It 

is,  with  short-sightedness,  suggested  by  very  many  as 

❖ 


o 


their  excuse  for  not  expressing  and  exerting  a per- 
sonal interest  and  influence  in  public  matters. 

Such  are  the  more  marked  causes  for  this  present 
fashion  of  indifference  as  to  politics  among  our  better- 
educated  and  more  successful  citizens. 

This  indifference  certainly  exists.  The  reaction 
after  the  intense  excitement  of  the  past  twenty  years, 
the  corruption  which  undeniably  soils  and  stains  our 
political  organizations  to  a very  great  and  alarming 
extent,  and  the  greater  comparative  rewards  of  all 
business  pursuits  and  activities  furnish  natural  expla- 
nations for  this  indifference,  or  rather  furnish  fair- 
sounding excuses  to  indifferent  citizens  for  their  neg- 
lect of  personal  duty. 

In  so  far  as  the  present  apathy  springs  from  wea- 
riness after  exhaustive  excitements,  it  is  natural  and 
logical.  It  will  naturally  and  logically  cure  itself.  It 
need  give  no  thoughtful  citizen  long  or  deep  concern. 

In  so  far  as  it  springs  from  the  condition  of  the 
public  service  and  the  corruptions  in  our  politics,  in  so 
far  as  either  the  methods  or  the  morals  of  our  politics 
furnish  either  the  cause  or  the  pretext  for  the  neglect 
of  political  duty,  either  by  any  single  citizen  or  any 
great  class  of  citizens,  the  present  condition  of  affairs 
deserves  study  and  requires  action. 

Good  men,  conscientious  men,  very  intelligent 
men,  meet  you  every  day,  and  say : “ I take  no  interest 
in  politics.  They  are  so  corrupt  that  I cannot  partici- 
pate in  them  without  loss  of  my  self-respect.”  That 
is,  a good  man  deliberately  says  : “ Because  corruption 
exists  in  politics,  I will  have  nothing  to  do  with  poli- 
tics.” Test  such  excuse  by  its  application  to  any 
other  sphere  of  effort. 


Small-pox  exists  in  a crowded  tenement  locality. 
The  doctor  is  asked  to  enter  the  place  of  disease, 
fight  its  contagion,  prevent  its  spread.  Suppose  he 
should  deliberately  say:  “ Because  contagion  exists  in 
small-pox,  I will  have  nothing  to  do  with  small-pox.” 
Society  would  vote  him  unfit  for  his  calling.  His  fel- 
lows would  christen  him  a coward. 

Sin  exists  in  the  world.  The  clergyman  is  be- 
sought to  work  among  sinners,  to  win  them  from 
wrong,  to  inspire  them  to  the  right.  Suppose  he 
should  deliberately  say  : “ Because  corruption  and  sin 
exist  in  my  parish  and  pollute  my  parishioners,  I will 
have  nothing  to  do  with  their  moral  and  religious  con- 
dition.” 

The  shocking  absurdity  of  such  answer  and  action 
is  self-evident.  Yet  precisely  such  is  the  logic  of 
your  good  man  who  takes  no  interest  in  politics  and 
never  participates  in  political  action. 

You  are  a citizen.  You  did  not  make  yourself 
one.  You  cannot  help  being  one.  You  may  neglect 
the  duties  of  citizenship.  You  cannot  avoid  its  re- 
sponsibilities. The  state  is  as  essential  to  human 
existence  and  happiness  as  is  the  family.  The  state 
exists.  It  must  exist.  It  will  be  either  better  or 
worse  for  your  living  in  it.  If  you  act  wisely  and  well, 
it  is  better.  If  you  act  foolishly  or  wrongly,  it  is 
worse.  If  you  pretend  not  to  act  at  all,  you,  in  fact, 
act  on  the  side  of  evil,  and  add  either  the  vice  of  indo- 
lence or  the  crime  of  selfishness  to  what  is  practically 
evil  action.  You  are  ready  to  reap  all  the  advantages 
of  citizenship.  Can  you  honestly  neglect  its  obliga- 
tions ? Government  or  the  state,  whatever  you  call 
it,  is  the  necessary  organization  among  men  for  their 


library 

university  of  ilunois 


mutual  protection,  for  the  general  security,  and  by  the 
united  power  of  all  to  prevent  some  men  from  injur- 
ing others.  The  state  made  possible  and  safe  the 
home  in  which  you  were  born.  It  provided  the  sys- 
tem of  general  education  under  which  you  were  nur- 
tured. It  protects  you  to-day  in  the  enjoyment  of 
your  personal  rights.  You  cannot  live  for  an  hour 
without  touching  the  state  somewhere,  without  being 
personally  helped  or  hindered  by  the  state,  as  it  is 
wisely  or  ignorantly,  justly  or  unjustly  ruled.  And  so 
you  can  hardly  live  for  an  hour  without  yourself  influ- 
encing, in  greater  or  less  degree,  the  state  itself,  with- 
out helping  or  hindering  it  in  its  work  of  government. 
Is  it  manly  to  use  and  enjoy  the  opportunities  of  the 
state,  and  to  do  nothing  in  return  for  the  real  welfare 
of  the  state  ? Is  it  wise  ? Since  the  state  must  exist — 
since,  if  well  ruled,  you  are  benefited,  and  if  badly 
ruled,  you  must  be  ultimately  injured,  and  since,  under 
our  democratic  system,  if  good  men  do  not  rule,  bad 
men  inevitably  must  rule,  I repeat,  is  it  wise  for  you  to 
take  no  interest  in  politics  ? 

Your  reason  is,  that  politics  are  too  corrupt  for 
you  to  touch  them.  Gentlemen,  let  me  speak  plainly: 
the  politics  of  the  Republic  are  corrupt  to-day  mainly 
because  you,  the  educated  and  influential  men  of  the 
nation,  are  so  indifferent  to  our  politics.  The  edu- 
cated brain  and  virtuous  conscience  of  this  people  can 
rule  this  land,  if  educated  and  good  men  will  faithfully 
attempt  the  task ; but  if  the  men  of  the  school  and 
the  counting-room  do  not  rule,  the  men  of  the  gamb- 
ling dens  and  the  brothels  will. 

Tammany  ruled  New  York,  and  Tweed  ruled  Tam- 
many, simply  and  solely  because  good  men,  wise  men, 


13 


and  business  men  left  their  political  duties  unper- 
formed, and  Mr.  Tweed  did  for  them  what  they  were 
too  indifferent,  too  dainty,  or  too  busy  to  do  for  them- 
selves. And  of  another  thing  be  sure : Mr.  Tweed 
or  his  natural  successor  in  corruption  will  continue 
to  rule  New  York,  unless  the  late  repentance  which 
broke  out  into  spasmodic  action  in  New  York  City  last 
summer  and  autumn  shall  crystallize  into  continuous 
and  constant  attention  by  good  men  to  their  daily 
political  duties. 

Corrupt  adventurers  rule  to-day  in  Louisiana,  in 
South  Carolina,  and  most  painfully  in  poor  and  robbed 
Florida,  simply  and  solely  because  the  better  men 
among  the  old  white  residents  of  those  States  clung 
so  foolishly  and  blindly  to  the  prejudices  and  traditions 
of  the  old  era  of  slavery  that  they  would  take  no  lot 
nor  part  in  the  new  order  of  things,  and  because  the 
better  men  among  the  new  white  residents  of  those 
States  were  either  so  slighted  socially  by  those  among 
whom  they  had  come  to  dwell,  or  were  so  selfishly 
engrossed  in  private  enterprises  of  business,  that  they 
would  give  no  heed  to  public  affairs.  Of  course,  if 
some  intelligent  men  sat  in  the  shadows  of  the  even- 
ing and  pined  for  the  bubbles  which  the  sword  had 
pricked  forever,  and  if  others  followed  their  Northern 
habit  of  neglecting  politics  whenever  a dollar  was  to 
be  made  or  a personal  taste  to  be  gratified,  adven- 
turers and  schemers  seized  their  opportunity,  with 
specious  pleas  cajoled  the  ignorant  and  unwary,  and 
placed  themselves  in  power,  where  they  could  specu- 
late at  their  own  sweet  will  in  state  credit  and  railroad 
bonds. 

And  of  another  thing  be  sure.  Such  men  will  con- 


H 


tinue  to  rule  in  such  states  until  good  men,  white  and 
black,  Southern-born  and  Northern-born,  shall  heartily 
resolve  that  the  living  state  is  better  than  dead  slavery, 
that  men  should  work  in  the  fields  of  to-day  rather 
than  mope  and  dream  among  the  wrecks  of  yesterday; 
until  good  and  intelligent  men,  of  all  races  and  all 
political  creeds,  shall  come  to  understand  that  school- 
houses  are  better  and  more  useful  than  burned  negro- 
huts,  and  until  the  young  men  of  the  South  shall  come 
to  know  that  they  can  do  more  for  the  South  they  love 
so  well  by  resolutely  going  to  work,  by  clearing  up 
the  debris  of  the  past,  and  by  helping  to  build  up  a 
New  South  on  the  broad  basis  of  general  education, 
general  industry,  and  the  manly  recognition  by  all  of 
the  rights  of  all,  than  they  ever  did  by  their  bravest 
battle  and  most  devoted  sacrifice. 

Let  me,  then,  frankly  say  to  you,  as  educated  men, 
that  I can  see  neither  wisdom,  logic,  nor  manliness  in 
the  excuse  which  educated  men  so  generally  make  for 
their  neglect  of  political  duty  and  their  indifference  to 
public  affairs. 

But  there  remains  the  excuse  or  pretext  that  public 
service  is  so  poorly  compensated,  or  of  so  uncertain  * 
tenure,  that  capable  men  cannot  afford  to  enter  it. 

Because  a man  votes,  he  need  not  therefore  be  a 
candidate  to  be  voted  for.  Because  he  takes  part  in 
selecting  a candidate,  he  need  not  therefore  try  to  get 
the  nomination  for  himself.  If  you  are  not  able  to 
hold  any  given  office  yourself,  why,  then  be  a man,  do 
not  hanker  after  it,  do  not  tempt  yourself  to  theft  or 
dishonesty  by  trying  to  get  it,  but  do  your  best  to  see 
that  some  one  is  nominated  for  the  position  who  is 
honest,  capable,  and  so  circumstanced  that  he  can 


i5 


justly  occupy  the  place.  If  one  neglects  such  political 
duty  as  he  is  able  to  perform  because  there  lies 
beyond  it  some  other  duty  or  opportunity  which  he 
cannot  properly  perform,  he  is.  simply  shirking  the 
work  at  his  hand  without  any  just  excuse.  There  is 
nothing  among  men  which  for  their  real  welfare  is 
needed  to  be  done,  but  there  is  some  person  specially 
fitted  to  do  it.  There  is  no  public  service  which  the 
State  actually  requires,  but  there  is  some  citizen  pecu- 
liarly qualified  for  its  performance.  He  who  seeks  to 
find  the  one  so  qualified  instead  of  seeking  the  place 
for  himself,  best  performs  his  duty  as  citizen,  and  so 
best  serves  the  State. 

Except  in  those  rare  crises  in  the  life  of  the  nation, 
when  the  good  of  the  whole  justifies  and  requires  any 
and  every  possible  sacrifice  on  the  part  of  every  citi- 
zen, no  man  ought  to  neglect  his  business  or  injure  his 
family  in  order  to  serve  the  state.  But  the  converse 
of  this  is  also  true.  No  man  ought  to  neglect  the 
state,  or  suffer  it  to  receive  hurt  in  order  to  gratify  his 
avarice  in  trade  or  his  love  of  personal  ease  or  social 
life.  “These  things  ought  ye  to  have  done,  and  not 
to  leave  the  other  undone.”  The  busiest  man,  pro- 
vided he  regulates  his  devotion  to  business  by  intelli- 
gent methods,  can  keep  himself  well-informed  as  to 
the  current  politics  of  the  day.  It  he  apply  the  ordi- 
nary tests  of  intelligence  and  morality,  of  wise  and 
just  expediency,  of  right  and  wrong,  to  the  various 
questions  of  political  duty  and  policy  as  they  arise,  he 
will  seldom  find  much  difficulty  in  deciding  what  his 
personal  duty  and  consequent  political  action  should 
be.  Having  thus  decided  his  duty,  he  should  give  his 
conviction  the  indorsement  of  his  example  by  doing 


6 


what  he  justly  may  to  express  that  conviction  in  intel- 
ligent, direct,  and  manly  political  action.  It  is  very 
seldom  that  the  citizen  cannot  attend  the  caucus  or 
primary  meeting  of.  the  party  with  whose  general 
views  and  course  he  sympathizes.  If  all  voters  would 
recognize  this  duty,  and  only  those  should  omit  to  per- 
form it  who  were  prevented  by  the  immediate  and 
unavoidable  pressure  of  some  other  and  higher  duty, 
there  would  nearly  always  be  present  in  the  caucus  or 
primary  meeting  a sufficient  number  of  good  men  to 
either  directly  control  its  action  by  the  voices  and 
votes  of  a majority,  or  indirectly,  by  the  weight  and 
influence  which  virtue  and  intelligence  always  exert. 
But  it  may  be  suggested  that  good  men  thus  going 
might  be  outvoted  by  the  bad  and  the  designing,  or 
that,  in  our  great  cities,  fraud  often  substitutes  a false 
result  for  the  actual  wish  of  the  voters.  Go  and  do 
your  duty,  and  if  you  are  cheated,  do  not  in  disgust 
lay  down  unused  the  duties  and  privileges  of  your 
citizenship,  but  stand  up  like  men,  perform  your  per- 
sonal duty  upon  your  own  personal  responsibility,  and 
bolt  the  corrupt  dictation  of  bad  men. 

There  is  no  sanctity  about  nominations  simply 
because  they  are  regular.  And  there  is  neither  oil  of 
anointing  upon  the  brow  of  a regular  candidate,  nor 
just  claims  of  apostolic  succession  in  any  party  con- 
vention. When  party  is  right,  sustain  party;  not 
because  it  is  party,  but  because  it  is  right.  When  it 
is  wrong,  do  your  best  to  set  it  right;  and  if  you  fail 
in  that,  then  bolt  your  party  and  beat  it.  As  spirit  is 
better  than  form,  as  the  brain,  the  heart,  the  soul,  and 
not  the  body,  are  the  man,  so  the  ideas  and  purposes 
of  government  for  which  a political  party  is  organized 


i7 


are,  in  its  best  sense,  the  party.  So  long  as  the  organ- 
ization sustains  and  gives  practical,  honest,  and  efficient 
expression  to  those  ideas,  it  has  just  and  binding 
claims  upon  such  citizens  as  sincerely  believe  in  such 
ideas.  But  when  it  discards  and  rejects  them,  or  when 
it  seeks  to  make  them  only  a rallying  cry  for  the 
unwary,  that  its  ambitious  leaders  may  get  victory  for 
merely  selfish  ends,  when  party  has  outlived  purity,  it 
has  outlived  usefulness,  and,  being  dead,  ought  to  be 
buried. 

But  to  return  to  this  pretext  that  the  pecuniary 
rewards  of  business  and  professional  life  are  so  much 
greater  than  those  of  the  public  service  as  to  justify 
men  in  attending  to  the  former  to  the  exclusion  of  the 
latter.  It  is  certainly  the  duty  of  each  able-bodied  or 
able-minded  citizen  to  support  his  own  family  by  his 
own  effort  either  of  muscle  or  brains,  and  during  his 
health  and  strength  to  make  suitable  provision  for  his 
and  their  maintenance  when  old  age,  sickness,  or  any 
incapacity  for  labor  may  hinder  his  earning  such  sup- 
port. This  social  duty  to  family  and  self  may  and 
does  justly  excuse  any  man  from  any  ambitious  self- 
seeking  for  official  place.  It  even  excuses  any  man, 
except  in  rare  crises  of  public  danger,  from  accepting 
an  official  trust  when  such  trust  is  tendered  by  his  fel- 
lows, even  without  solicitation  by  himself,  provided 
that  such  acceptance  interferes  with  another  actual  and 
necessary  duty  to  family  and  self.  But  when  the  pop- 
ular judgment  voluntarily  selects  a man  from  among 
his  fellows  because  the  popular  judgment  intelligently 
believes  that  he  is  the  best  qualified  among  them  to 
discharge  any  given  public  trust,  then  it  is  the  duty  of 
such  citizen  to  accept  the  trust  if  he  possibly  can. 


i8 


Nothing  can  justly  excuse  his  declination  except  the 
presence  of  some  other  and  higher  duty.  Utopian  as 
such  an  idea  or  theory  of  the  public  service  may  seem 
to  you,  amid  the  strifes  and  ambitions  of  our  practical 
politics,  it  is  not  merely  the  theory  of  the  ideal  repub- 
lic. It  is  the  saving  leaven  of  our  actual  state.  It  is 
the  constant  presence  in  our  public  life  of  some  men 
thus  guided  and  thus  living,  which  largely  helps  to 
sustain  a lofty  ideal  of  public  virtue  among  parties 
and  politicians.  Some  such  men  honor  our  national 
Congress  to-day.  Such  an  one  was  the  great  war- 
Governor  of  Massachusetts,  a man  to  whom  public 
office  was  a duty,  reluctantly  assumed,  conscientiously 
discharged,  gladly  surrendered.  The  turf  is  green 
over  the  grave  of  John  A.  Andrew,  but  his  life  remains 
as  a singularly  pure  and  beautiful  example  to  our 
educated  men  of  one  who  recognized,  respected,  and 
fulfilled  the  obligations  of  his  citizenship. 

To  such  performance  of  duty  the  state  has  just 
and  binding  claim  upon  her  citizens.  Public  place  is 
a trust  to  which  an  honest  ambition  may  laudably 
aspire,  providing  no  mean  methods  form  the  ladder 
on  which  ambition  mounts,  and  no  false  morals  sully 
the  pursuit  or  the  use  of  office.  But  it  is  always  and 
everywhere  a trust,  to  which  the  state  has  the  right  to 
call  any  of  her  sons,  whenever  the  common  good  to 
be  gained  by  his  service  shall  outweigh  the  loss  or 
inconvenience  which  such  service  may  cause  to  him- 
self. In  time  of  war,  when  the  nation’s  life  was 
assailed,  men  were  needed.  The  state  called  for 
volunteers.  There  were  many  so  situated  that  they 
were  morally  bound  to  go.  Such  as  were  so  circum- 
stanced and  did  not  go  were  wanting  either  in  con- 


19 


science  or  in  pluck.  There  were  many  others  so  situ- 
ated that  duty  to  wife  and  children,  to  parents  or  to 
great  trusts  already  undertaken,  forbade  their  going. 
The  question  of  going  or  remaining  was  one  of  duty, 
to  be  settled  solely  as  one  of  duty  ; not  in  the  fevered 
impulse  of  a young  man’s  enthusiasm,  but  soberly, 
faithfully,  manfully.  But  as  the  state  had  thus  an 
absolute  claim  to  the  life  of  her  sons,  a claim  so  high 
that  when  men  came  not  in  sufficient  numbers  of  their 
own  free  will,  a draft  was  ordered  and  the  ranks  were 
filled,  so  the  state  has  to-day,  and  always,  like  claim  to 
the  service  of  her  sons,  to  honest,  faithful  service  ; 
not  the  service  of  selfish  ambition,  but  of  pure  and 
earnest  loyalty  to  our  fatherland. 

I shall  not  here  and  now  discuss  this  matter  of  the 
tenure  of  our  civil  service  in  its  various  clerical  and 
subordinate  grades.  The  present  evils  and  still 
greater  future  dangers  of  the  present  system  are  evi- 
dent to  all  thoughtful  men.  As  both  political  parties 
unite  in  a lip-condemnation,  let  us  faintly  hope  that 
whichever  shall  have  the  power  will  do  something 
practical  to  remedy  the  wrong.  But  one  serious  word 
right  here.  Politicians,  as  a class,  are  men,  not  saints.  • 
If  political  work  is  to  be  mainly  done  by  political 
place-holders,  then  party  leaders  will  naturally  and 
quite  logically  fill  such  places  with  men  who  can  and 
will  do  the  required  work. 

The  evil  is  to  be  corrected  most  largely  and  most 
effectively  by  the  old-fashioned  but  sure  rule,  that  each 
citizen  shall,  in  his  own  place,  perform  his  own  duty  to 
the  state.  My  faith  in  immediate  results  would  be 
greater  if  the  classes  whom  you  represent  would  more 
heartily  appreciate  this  truth. 


20 


It  is  your  duty,  as  citizens,  to  vote — to  vote  intelli- 
gently, honestly.  Because  another  is  employed  in  the 
post-office  or  revenue  service,  his  duty  is  no  higher 
than  yours.  Remember,  also,  it  is  no  less.  You  vote, 
not  because  you  are  out  of  place,  but  because  you  are 

* citizens.  Honor  is  due  to  the  man  who,  being  in  office 
or  out  of  office,  still  fulfils  his  obligations  as  citizen. 
What  will  you  justly  say  of  the  man  who,  being  out  of 
office  and  never  or  but  seldom  performing  his  personal 
duty  as  citizen,  sneers  at  his  fellow  in  office  as  one 
wearing  the  collar  of  a place-holder,  and  thus  practi- 
cally denies  to  him  the  right  to  a voice  and  vote  in  our 
public  affairs? 

Our  office-holders  are  but  a very  small  fraction  of 
our  people,  or  even  of  any  dominant  party.  When- 
ever all  the  people  shall  faithfully  attend  to  their  polit- 
ical duties,  the  office-holders  will  be  practically  power- 
less. Their  duty  is  to-day  your  duty.  Their  respon- 
sibility is  yours.  That  under  so  many  sneers  and 
against  such  silent  but  very  potent  influence  of  fashion 
and  example,  so  many  good  men  and  true  men  accept 
subordinate  public  place,  and  perform  its  functions  so 

# honestly  and  well,  is  large  honor  to  them.  It  should 
be  large  shame  to  such  as  never  touch  the  burden  of 
public  duty,  even  with  their  little  fingers,  yet  bemoan 
the  influence  of  office-holders  in  our  politics,  and  sneer 
at  the  political  effort  of  the  official  as  the  service  of 
one  who  wears  a master’s  collar,  and  humbly  eats 
another’s  bread. 

Mr.  Dean  and  Gentlemen:  To  you  as  represen- 
tatives of  the  educated  classes  of  the  Republic,  I 
come  with  earnest  plea  for  the  personal  discharge  by 
each  citizen  of  his  personal  political  duties.  The  the- 


21 


ory  of  our  government  seems  to  be  the  simplest, 
purest,  and  best  among  all  the  political  systems  of  all 
the  ages.  But  one  thing  is  needed  to  keep  our  state 
as  beneficent  in  fact  as  it  is  beautiful  in  theory.  That 
one  thing  is  the  honest,  intelligent  effort  of  each  indi- 
vidual citizen  ; each  man  by  himself,  and  not  any  man 
by  another.  Such  is  the  injunction  which  the  state 
lays  upon  her  children.  Your  performance  is  either 
an  example  or  a restraint  to  your  fellow.  You  thus 
encourage  him  when  right.  You  thus  correct  him 
when  wrong.  Your  neglect  unjustly  imposes  your 
own  burden  upon  him  if  he  faithfully  bears  his  own. 
It  exposes  the  state  to  his  evil  purpose  if  he  acts 
corruptly  or  ignorantly. 

From  sea  to  sea  our  nation  has  grown.  She  is 
belted  with  railways ; she  is  rich  in  all  material  re- 
sources ; she  is  ready  and  eager  to  crown  herself  with 
all  that  is  highest  and  best  in  culture  and  develop- 
ment. Treason  assailed  her  in  vain.  From  sweetest 
labors  of  peace  she  passed  to  sternest  battle,  and  in 
that  trial  neither  muscle  nor  faith  nor  endurance  failed. 
With  unwilling,  but  with  skilful  hand,  she  beat  the 
ploughshare  into  the  sword,  the  pruning-hook  into  the 
spear.  When  the  strife  was  done,  she  built  no  gibbets  ; 
laid  no  blocks ; whetted  no  axes.  She  took  from 
the  erring  neither  their  flocks  nor  their  fields.  But 
remembering  that  in  all  the  land  her  sons  were  breth- 
ren, she  bade  them  dwell  together  in  unity  and  peace. 
Back  into  the  ploughshare  she  beats  the  sword  of  her 
triumph,  back  into  the  pruning-hook  the  spear  of  her 
strength.  With  laurels  of  great  victory  upon  her 
brow,  with  the  pages  of  her  story  open  to  the  world, 
she  puts  the  wreath  aside,  closes  the  record  of  war, 


22 


and  turns  again  to  the  spindle  and  the  loom.  Forget- 
ting the  evil  passions  of  war,  she  proffers  forgiveness 
to  the  mother-land  that  wronged  her  so  sorely  in  the 
tinffe  of  great  agony,  and  asks  that  mother-land  to 
unite  with  her  in  seeking  peaceful  solution  of  quarrel 
rather  than  bloody  and  cruel  settlement  by  the  sword. 
Knowing  alike  her  strength  and  her  courage,  she 
is  brave  enough  and  self-reliant  enough  to  dare  to 
seek  her  rights  by  peaceful  means  and  before  the  tri- 
bunal of  the  enlightened  opinion  of  civilized  nations. 
Grander  effort  hath  no  people  made — an  effort  worthy 
of  the  Christian  progress  of  this,  the  latest  of  the' 
ages. 

Such  is  the  state,  strong,  brave,  peaceful,  into  the 
great  privilege  of  whose  sonship  we  are  born.  Her 
future  shall  be  the  worthy  crowning  of  her  past,  only 
as  you,  her  educated  sons,  shall,  each  in  your  place, 
recognize  and  fulfil  your  personal  duties  as  citizens. 
There  is  no  imperial  Appian  W&y  by  which  the  state 
shall  keep  her  onward  path  of  honor  and  of  blessing, 
save  that  which  her  children  build ; each  building  with 
patient  effort  and  pure  purpose  ; each  doing  such  little 
public  service  as  he  may ; faithfully,  honestly,  not  for 
self,  but  for  the  highest  good  of  all. 


■ 


